Mikel Arteta confirms Arsenal considering mid-season break after success of Dubai trip last season
Mikel Arteta says Arsenal will try to organise some form of mid-season break for their squad after the success of January’s trip to Dubai.
The Gunners had lost three games on the spin around the turn of this year before they jetted to Dubai for a training camp.
The squad returned from the trip rejuvenated and went on to lose just one of their final 18 Premier League games, missing out on the title to Manchester City on the final day of the season.
The expanded Champions League means there is no set winter break in the Premier League schedule anymore - but Arteta has revealed Arsenal will look to “do something different in a way”.
“We don’t know where that clicked,” said Arteta. “Because if instead of going to Dubai, we would have given them a week off and you see the team in Las Vegas for one week, smashing the night.
“We come back the following week and we lose two games in a row. I am in my house, I am sacked.
“If they go to Las Vegas, they do that and we win three in a row. You are telling me now, send the boys to Las Vegas because they are going to kill it afterwards.
“I don’t know. I hope I have just a single thing to pull my thing. I think it helped. The sun, being in contact with nature, getting away for a week.
“It was so intense until Christmas and we needed it. We don’t have that. We will do something different in a way.
“But every day, I think it is trying to put every day something that helps the mood, the energy, the belief on that team, on that players to be the best version of ourselves. That is what we try every single day without exception.”